W. H. McLeod (1932-2009) was an influential Western scholar of Sikh studies.
Courses
Foundations of Rehat: An Introduction to the Sikh Way of Discipline
This course introduces ਰਹਿਤ (Rehat), the disciplined Sikh way of living, and ਮਰਯਾਦਾ (maryada), the agreed code or protocol that gives that living a shared shape. In plain English, but at a graduate depth, it explains why discipline exists to serve devotion rather than to replace it, how Rehat differs from ordinary…
The Five Ks and Khalsa Identity: Bana, Discipline, and the Saint-Soldier
This course explains the five articles of faith worn by initiated Sikhs, known together as the Panj Kakar or Five Ks: kesh (uncut hair), kangha (the wooden comb), kara (the steel bracelet), kachhera (the cotton undergarment), and kirpan (the sword). In plain English we look at what each article means, where it…
Sikhi & Comparative Religion
An undergraduate survey that situates Sikhi within the academic study of religion, examining its distinctive theology of one formless Reality (Ik Onkar) alongside the wider family of human religious traditions. Following the comparative and religious-studies approach associated with W. H. McLeod, the course…
The Global Sikh Diaspora
An academic survey of Sikh migration and settlement across the world, from the late nineteenth century to the present. The course follows the movement of Sikhs within the British Empire to East Africa and Southeast Asia, the early twentieth-century pioneers who reached the Pacific coast of North America, the…
Amrit Sanchar: Initiation and the Vows of the Khalsa
A clear, graduate-level introduction to the Amrit Sanchar, the Sikh rite of initiation into the Khalsa. The course traces the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur on Vaisakhi 1699, the calling of the Panj Pyare, and the Khande di Pahul ceremony in which sweetened water is stirred with a…
The Sikh Rehat Maryada: The Modern Panthic Code of Conduct
This course studies the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the single agreed code of conduct for Sikhs produced under the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and first published in 1945 after many years of careful discussion. We look at what the code standardises: who counts as a Sikh, daily personal discipline…
The Prem Sumarag: A Sanatan Vision of the Ideal Panth
The Prem Sumarag Granth (ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਸੁਮਾਰਗ) is a Punjabi prose work that lays out a complete picture of how an ideal Sikh society should be ordered — covering daily worship, rites of passage, the role of rulers, family life, and the rules a devout Sikh should keep. This graduate-level course studies the work through W.…